1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for processing image data in accordance with a combination of color materials including process colors and spot colors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, printers using the color materials of spot colors in addition to four, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black process colors hit the market, and the user can easily print high-quality images. Types of spot colors are light colors such as light cyan and light magenta which are equal in hue to cyan and magenta and lower in density, metallic colors such as gold and silver, fluorescent colors including a fluorescent material, and a transparent color for adjusting gloss. Effects of using the color materials of spot colors include widening of the gamut, improvement of the gloss and quality, and improvement of the graininess and continuity of tone. Although most of printers additionally using spot colors are of the inkjet type, electrophotographic printers using spot colors are recently proposed, too.
When electrophotographic printer uses spot color toners in addition to four process colors, the output time may become longer than usual or the output charge may change depending on the number of toner colors, the printer configuration, and the type of paper for use. It is difficult for a user familiar with 4-color printing to recognize improvement of image quality at the expense of time and cost, and the user may hesitate about printing using spot colors.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-247403 proposes a technique of automatically selecting a combination of color materials appropriate for contents information by inputting, as the contents information, the contents of data to be printed and the use purpose of a print material. However, this technique requires labor to input contents information, and an image after printing cannot be confirmed. In other words, it cannot be confirmed before printing whether improvement of image quality commensurate with the necessary time (labor to input contents information) and cost can be obtained.